Cancelled cruises cost Dorset economy £5 million in 2020
Portland Port has frozen its fees for customer as a kind gesture to help the cruise industry
Dorset’s economy missed out on £5 million last year due to cancelled cruise visits, according to Portland Port.
Cruises could bring the economy £7 million, if they’re allowed to go ahead this year. So far, around 50 cruises are booked to visit the port, assuming they can visit.
Bill Reeves is the CEO of the Port. He says they want to help out their customers visiting this year.
“We can’t plead a special case, many businesses around the UK will have done far worse than us.
“We’ve certainly had our challenges, mainly because we lost nearly all of our cruise business last year so we looked at the index and how much we would increase the tariff by and just thought that it would be a nice gesture not to increase it this year.”
43 cruise liners were booked to visit Portland Port last year, but in the end only two were able to make the trip.
It is anticipated that normal cruise operations will recommence later in the year but is remains hard to predict when the restart will get underway. In the meantime, Portland Port will continue to offer it’s support to the sector as best it can.
Bill added:
“The cruise business will come back, very confident that 2022 will be a good year for us.
“It will be a very good year for cruise lines generally, there’s a pent up demand of people who really want to go cruising as soon as it’s safe to do so.
The port itself continues to apply the appropriate restrictions and safety measures to protect the port’s staff, its contractors, customers, and the local population. Port staff have continued to work from home where possible since the first lockdown last year, however this is not possible for all staff; pilots, marine officers, police, and security, are crucial to the port’s ability to operate and maintain its integrity. For those coming into the workplace, be it an office, tug or pilot boat, the social distancing rules are observed and there are supplies of hand sanitiser gel and the necessary PPE as required.
Prior to any vessel arriving in port waters or coming alongside they must provide the necessary health declarations, and where necessary, the local Port Health Authority are consulted.